Hong Kong

"Hong Kong used to have freedom, Now it’s lost all that. So why wouldn’t I go to mainland China, where at least things are cheaper?” Xi’s efforts to crush dissent in Hong Kong have weakened its distinct identity from China and instilled a new sense of political apathy.

What freedom? Really all the west has to offer is vague and empty phrases and a slight feeling of smug superiority.

Really all the west has to offer is vague and empty phrases and a slight feeling of smug superiority
100% this. Everytime a hog or a lib says we have freedom, I ask them "What freedom, exactly?" It's just vibes and vague platitudes
It was literally a colony, governed by unelected foreign officials from the other side of the world. No HKer was ever a governor, it was always anglos. Very democratic, very free
The freedom to call Chinese people locusts.
Lured by cheaper prices in Shenzhen, Yip moved across the border into a bigger apartment in November and now has a 1.5-hour commute to work in the Central business district on Hong Kong island. The research associate at a financial firm laments the shrinking space for speech in his former home, but doesn’t believe politics should get in the way of a good life. "People may oppose the central government or have concerns about political freedom, but how does these concerns affect your everyday life? The truth is that it doesn’t,” he said.
and a slight feeling of smug superiority.
It's literally just this. They liked being honorary Aryans.
That's pretty much the cope I would expect. China needs to up its soft power game in order to really win hearts and minds the way western countries have.
- It seems like China believes that selling things and the power of their economic success is all they need. Genshin Impact and TikTok are steps in the right direction but they need more.
its distinct identity from China
This is the part that sucks; they've lost that cultural quality of being British boot lickers and are gaining the average Chinese cultural trait of having pride in oneself and in their country's accomplishments.

Dang Roaches keep talking shit.
Buddy comedy of a Cuban exile and an Anglo in HK hired to help the US and the HK Rioters in 2019 but are so inept all of their attempts backfire and end up helping the CPC
Coming to cinemas near you: Roach and Gusano! Rated PG-13

Rip to the ones moving to the UK what a wild decision. Have fun with our "democratic" government and crumbling infrastructure i guess

They're probably mostly the bourgeois population anyway. The gusanos of Hong Kong if you will.
They were not prepared for the mega-racism they faced in the West. Some actually very sad stories for people who kinda deserved it but got much worse than they deserved.
- Well the US has moved on to a different thing now so they can't stay in the US
Here's a 19 year old kid complaining about the UK after he spent a single year there after "fleeing" HK
Highlights:
Accommodation provided by the UK government was subpar
The UK government doesn't treat him like a citizen and would regularly rummage through his belongings
He can't attend university
British cuisine sucks
He wants to go back home

In 2019, Leung joined a Hong Kong movement to boycott Chinese-owned restaurants like many protesters opposing President Xi Jinping’s encroachment of the former British colony. Now she and her peers regularly go out of their way to the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen for cheap food and massages

Lucky fuckers

The idea that you can just hop on high speed rail and within an hour arrive in another basically identical metropolis but also it's 200% cheaper and you don't need to learn another language or apply for a visa and can just go home at any stage would be a goddamn dream scenario for most people on the planet.
And they wanted to reject that and go back to British rule so as to protect some guy that murdered his GF in Taipei from being extradited to the mainland? God damn western brainworms suck.

What, they don't like the freedom of paying ridiculous amounts of money to live in a closet in Hong Kong?

They’re experiencing Shenzhen, it’s not exactly the face of socialism.
But still miles better than what they were told to expect, so at least some of them will attibute the improvement to also this which they were told to be afraid of. Maybe even some of them will add 2 to 2 that they were used.
Yeah the wording lacks nuance, it's a meme, but the general gist is right. Whether it's specifically socialism that they're experiencing isn't the point, its that they have been told to fear the mainland, and when they go visit they find it's not so different from home after all, and actually much better in some ways. They're experiencing China, which includes shenzhen, as much as it includes beijing, or the countryside.

It's incredibly weird to me how much Bloomberg loves China. I'll take it, I guess

The capitalists invested in China are incentivised to support it.

"encroachment", you cant encroach on what's yours.

God if this isn't a summary of the actual reason a lot of socialist projects fail.

"Were not participating because it won't work because people are selfish" - liberals

socialists sacrifice, labor and struggle to make the dream a functional reality

"Hey we'd like some of those benefits you guys have created also were still not going to admit it worked and try to undermine you by being selfish assholes" - liberals

This is the same story with anti china taiwanese protesters during the sunflower movement. They just figured out there are more opportunities in the mainland.

You really can sell the capitalists a noose to hang themselves with

the original comic is from Chicken Thoughts, they make the cutest bird comics